Nissan Frontier SC Crew Cab

A former sofa spud gets a bracing blast of compressed air.

After floundering for the past five years, Nissan appears to be back in the game. In just two years, the Japanese automaker has introduced a revised Maxima sedan, pumped up the Pathfinder SUV, and rolled out the all-new, entry-level Xterra sport-ute.

The Xterra has done quite well for Nissan, selling at a pace of about 90,000 a year, some 30,000 more units than Nissan had expected to move. Nissan is now hoping that some of the Xterra's success will rub off on the Frontier pickup line, with its aggressive new bodywork and an optional supercharged engine.

The Frontier clearly needed work. The last version, which appeared in late 1997, was a consensus dud. In August 1998, we placed one in a five-truck comparison test, and it finished last. It combined a jittery ride with backpedaled styling, and only one other truck was slower. Perhaps the humdrum truck has appealed to a listless clientele, as current Frontier customers say watching television is their favorite pastime. To find out if we'd crave some tube time after experiencing the 2001 model, we got our hands on a prototype two-wheel-drive crew cab with an automatic transmission-and the newly supercharged engine-for this early test.

That engine is a definite godsend, as the last Frontier's 170-hp V-6 was one of the weakest in the class. An Eaton Roots-type supercharger, the same type used by Mercedes-Benz and GM, provides a maximum of 7.5 psi of lag-free boost and bumps horsepower from 170 at 4800 rpm to a much-appreciated 210 at the same rpm. Torque goes up 45 from 200 pound-feet at 2800 rpm to 245.

Helping the blower do its job are larger fuel injectors and a higher-pressure fuel pump that supplies the heavier-breathing engine with more fuel. There's also a higher-capacity radiator, a recalibrated engine controller, and subtle modifications to the clutch on manual-transmission models.

But don't expect the super-charger to turn the Frontier into a sleeper drag-strip burner. Our test truck still needed 9.5 seconds to reach 60 mph and 17.2 seconds to get past the quarter-mile mark at a less-than-scorching 79 mph. A 170-hp crew-cab four-wheeler we tested last August needed 10.9 seconds to reach 60 and did the quarter-mile routine in 18.2 seconds at 75 mph. What is strange is just how urgently the supercharged Nissan leaps off the line with nothing more than a tap of the gas pedal, belying the mediocre drag-strip numbers. It turns out that an overly aggressive throttle linkage disproportionately opens the throttle plate when the pedal is depressed. Pure mechanical trickery, but the supercharged Frontier now easily merges into 80-mph freeway traffic.

We couldn't help thinking there should be more beans, but Nissan says drivetrain reliability compromised how much power the blown motor could produce. Why not use the Pathfinder's DOHC 250-hp V-6? Nissan says it's too wide to fit in the Frontier (not to mention too expensive), and Nissan says it wanted to keep the Pathfinder unique anyway.

So the engine definitely increases the appeal of the Frontier, but we think the new bodywork will attract more than a few customers. It was penned at Nissan's design studio in La Jolla, California, and we found only a few casual observers who didn't go for the new industrial look. We would have preferred, however, if the large fender flares didn't abruptly end at the doors and if the fake bolt heads that ring the flares were the real thing; it would look so much cooler. The hood was also raised 48 millimeters to make room for the blower. Not a single onlooker claims to prefer the humdrum 2000 model over the new truck.

All Frontiers-regular cabs, King Cabs, and crew cabs-get new clothes, but Nissan is positioning blown trucks as top-of-the-line models. Which means all supercharged trucks are loaded with plenty of goodies. Their interiors have light-gray-colored trim around the climate controls and reversible gauges that change from black-on-white to white-on-black at night. There's also a tubular roof rack that's similar to the one found on the Xterra sport-ute. The few options that are available include leather seats, a six-disc in-dash CD changer, and a pop-up sunroof.

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